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Wandering arc
The Wandering arc is the ninth of the story arcs in Vagabond, and it shows the events corresponding to Musashi Miyamoto's wanderings while wounded in his right leg. Summary Musashi's perilous wandering, his fight against Ittōsai, its aftermath, his housing with a peasant family, his return to wandering, Matahachi's situation with his mother, Kojirō's situation upon his arrival to Kokura. Duration Chapters: 270—301 Volumes: 31—part of 34 Minor fights and Ittōsai Early spring. Musashi sets to visit Sekishūsai Yagyū and a cave near Miyamoto village that he used to visit in his childhoold, but his wounded right leg makes it more difficult. On the way, he is attacked often, but he develops an economizing technique, where he draws around himself a circle on the earth, and kills any attacker that enters that circle. In the outskirts of the Yagyū estate, he finds a threatening man that recognizes him as the Invincible Under The Heavens Musashi Miyamoto. Musashi escapes, fearing a possible duel, and goes to an inn. The same man finds him again there and reveals who he is: Ittōsai Itō. Musashi is shocked, as Ittōsai was his idol during his childhood. Ittōsai forces Musashi to a challenge. Musashi employs his economizing technique, but Ittōsai pushes him and leaves him unconscious. It seems Ittōsai has won, but later in the woods it is revealed that Musashi has made a worse cut in his torso than originally thought. Ittōsai rests and a flashback shows when Kojirō returned from his fight against the Sadakore's squad and attacked him, splitting his right hand. Ittōsai gets up and intends to resume his march, but he feels he is about to get a cold. Housing with a peasant family Musashi regains consciousness in the inn and reflects on his apparent defeat: he may have lost the fight, but Ittōsai is much more weaker spiritually than him. He resumes his march but jumps off a waterfall after a group of men spot him. Unbeknownst to him, they are men from the Hosokawa clan sent to hire him, they are led by the samurai Toyozaemon. Musashi is rescued by a peasant family, who house him. To lay low, he says his name is Takezō. Living with the family, he reflects on his life and learns about the wood carving trade, which the father in the family do for a living. He is even offered marriage, which he refuses. Eventually, he reveals his true name, and some time later he leaves the family in an emotional farewell. His journey resumes as previously, with his reflections, bandit attacks and Toyozaemon's tracking. Matahachi's situation Regarding Matahachi, he tries to return to the Miyamoto village carrying her ill mother on his back but she dies on the way. Matahachi returns to the temple and buries her. A flashback is shown when a middle aged Osugi Hon'iden just widowed and the folks wonder how will the Hon'iden family continue as she is childless, she then adopts a baby boy from a widowed vassal woman, and renames him "Matahachi", claiming that he will become the heir of the Hon'iden family. Then the story's narrator is revealed: it has been an aged Matahachi all along. From now on, scenes with the aged Matahachi will pop up: he appears to have finally become a honest person, and he earns a living as a storyteller, sitting everyday on a bridge and telling stories about Musashi, Kojirō and himself to an ever increasing group of passerbys. He tells that after Osugi's death, he was offered to become a monk, but he refused and went instead to Kokura when he heard that Kojirō was there. Kojirō's situation Regarding Kojirō, he and the Hosokawa envoys arrive to Kokura. There, just after he lands in the docks he starts playing with a balloon from some kids, but he bumps into a guard and soon ensues a fight against multiple men, all while he keeps doing keepie uppies with a ballon. The men stop when they see a kid on a boat on the Murasaki river that was going to drift away to the high seas, he is one of the guards' son. Kojirō takes off his clothes and jumps off the bridge, and rescues him while catching again the balloon at the same time. The rest of the guards and sailors also jump off the bridge to swim to the boat and carry it back to land. After that event, Kojirō becomes the talk of the town and the folks start to salute him on the streets and offer him benefits in their workplaces. Kojirō is then introduced to the head of the Kokura castle, Tadatoshi Hosokawa, but doubts about his capability arise due to his deafness and his flamboyant clothes, and also because the Hosokawa already have many chief sword instructors. While they are deliberating, Kojirō gets up, goes outside and tames Mogura, the horse of former clan head Tadaoki Hosokawa which was thought to be impossible to tame. After Kojirō returns, a fight is arranged between him and Kaede, one of the chief sword instructors, but the fight is short: Kojirō exposes Kaede's breasts (much to the chagrin of many of the Hosokawa samurai, who didn't know that Kaede was a woman) and gets distracted by her rosary, this greatly embarasses Kaede who smacks him, leaving him unconscious. At that very moment enters Ujiie, Tadaoki's former comrade in arms now turned chief sword instructor. He is unimpressed by Kojirō and his lack of etiquette. Tadaoki tells Tadatoshi, in a private conversation, that he intends to use Kojirō to diminish Ujiie's influence in political affairs. Category:Story Arcs